The burger was delicious (grilled onions, hot peppers, bell peppers, lettuce, and smothered in A1 sauce), but the fries were ‘donkulous. Covered in garlic and butter, crispy and perfectly seasoned.

The next shot (low light) is from Kyoto sushi in San Francisco. Golden nugget sushi (spicy salmon inside tempura!):

The dipping box in the center of the plate was just sized to fit the pieces of sushi, which remained hot for a surprising length of time.

Next up was Cha Cha Cha in San Francisco. We got some grilled marinated chicken wings (with guava-chipotle glaze!) as appetizers:

Tastier than buffalo wings. Slightly crispy without being soggy, generously covered in glaze.

For lunch I got the spicy chicken sandwich with new potatos (fried and covered in salt):

Then I headed back to DC for a day, and off to Chicago for a career fair!

The first night I had meetings so late I got back to my friend’s apartment wicked late. Fortunately the incredibly friendly folks at Chicago’s Pizza and Pasta let us in as their last customers. I got the Mostaccioli Arrabiatta (low light picture):

BBQ was next. A tiny little place named Smokin’ Woody’s served, well, smoked and bbq’d meats. This also came with decent fries and rather good beans (I am not usually a great fan of beans):

I wasn’t a fan of the pork, it was quite fatty. But the chicken was exquisite, and we left stuffed.

The last time I was in Chicago, we went to Lou Malnatis. Oh it was an experience! This time we decided to try out The Art of Pizza. I shared a jalepeno bell pepper onion and pepperoni pizza:

The pizza won, but it was a glorious battle. I still think Lou Malnatis was my favorite, but its a close match. Definitely a place worth checking out. (Also, unlike the excellent Lou Malnatis, The Art of Pizza has room to breathe. Malnatis was, as I recall, quite cramped.)

Saturday night, before going to see the incredible “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind“, we went to Demera for Ethiopian food. I wasn’t a fan of the bread we ate with (it was too sour). Some of the dishes didn’t fit my taste either (although the Ye-Doro Tibs was incredibly delicious, as was the salad). However the appetizer we got, vegetarian sambussa, is one of my new very favorite foods (picture was a bit fuzzy):

Crispy, hot, spicy, and the sauce tasted like hot and sour sauce finally found itself and started writing novels.

Also noteworthy was the live music, provided by Seyoum Alemseged. (His very first song immediately struck me as being made for a samurai western, oddly enough).

Sunday morning before I left to return to DC, we ate at Julius Meinl. A quick glance at their pastries on display suggested these were people who knew their craft well:

That was the case! I got some chai tea to start:

It was delicious, but couldn’t compare to the chai tea at lulas cafe, which I hold to be without equal in the windy city.

The breakfast, however, told a far more confident tale. I ordered the Nutella Crepes (chocolate with strawberries, bananas and creme):

The taste surpassed the eye’s most admiring sonnets.

It was a delicious breakfast, and a fitting metaphor for the end of my Chicago trip and the beginning of my trek home. An end is always a beginning of another sort. I’m looking forward to trying to create some of these dishes myself!